Enterprise Agile coach Renee Troughton believes that pessimism and optimism are additive: lots of horrible moments can give you a pessimistic outlook, while lots of positive moments can yield an optimistic one. “We ride this pessimistic and optimistic wave as individuals based upon the moments that we have in conversations everyday.” Perspective shapes how feedback is received — and that can make an uncomfortable conversation out of sharing simple feedback.

Too often, though, feedback is imposed on people by HR in a performance review, which Renee thinks often comes across as “disrespectful”. Instead, people should be able to communicate to each other the feedback they have. The ideal is to create an environment where feedback is welcome and not delivered in a disrespectful manner. Renee champions patience, mindfulness of how you come across, respect and optimism because when people are ready for feedback, they will seek it out. She recommends having a conversation and, if you’re the one providing the feedback, be aware of what your body language is communicating.

SolutionsIQ’s Josh Fruit hosts at Business Agility 2017 in New York City.